former Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused of secretly taking several ministerial portfolios

Australian Prime Minister denounces a “unprecedented rampage” of democracy. Anthony Albanese castigated, Tuesday August 16, the behavior of his predecessor, Scott Morrison, who secretly appointed himself to several ministerial portfolios. The former head of government, in office from 2018 to last May, justified his actions by “unprecedented times” of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scott Morrison had appointed himself since March 2020 to five minister posts, including those of Health, Finance and Resources, said Anthony Albanese. “We sometimes forget what happened two years ago and the situation we were facing, it was an unprecedented time, it was not a conventional time”the former Prime Minister defended himself in a radio interview on Tuesday.

“We had to take extraordinary measures to put safeguards in place”he said, ensuring that he had thus enabled the continuity of government in the event of the unavailability of a minister. “Fortunately, it was not necessary for me to trigger the use of any of these powers”he said on Facebook.

The Prime Minister has sought advice from the Attorney General to assess the legality of the actions of Scott Morrison, whom he has accused of leading “a shadow government”. Some ministers from the previous government have said they were unaware that the former prime minister had appointed himself to their portfolios. In May, the conservative coalition was defeated in the legislative elections, ousting Scott Morrison from the head of government.